Panic Attack!

So here's the scenario - guy makes short film, does a few screenings and posts it on the internet. Film gets seen by Legendary genre director who finds guy and helps him get a major deal with a Hollywood cinema. Guy gets associated with a coupleof geektastic projects which don't come to fruition, then makes something wonderful.
Sound Familiar? it's approximately what has happened with Neill Blomkamp being 'discovered' by Peter Jackson a few years back and ending producing 'District 9' this year, on of the most innovative, engaging and exciting works in Science Fiction for a long time.
Now it might be happening again, if we're lucky. THose of us who saw Blomkamp's Halo 3 shorts or the short that District 9 is based upon, Alive in Joburg



might have had a similar feeling watching the film at the top of this post; Panic Attack by Fede Alvarez. Sam Raimi sure did, and has signed the Uruguayan film maker to 'develop and direct an original genre project'.

This MTV Movie Blogs points out that this is happening the same year that Oren Peli has had 'unparalleled success' with his ultra low budget suspense flick "Paranormal Activity" - produced for a variously reported 10-15 thousand dollars in 2007, Peli's film came to the attention of Steven Spielberg after some festival Screenings and has bee a sleeper hit that led to a dealwith Peli at Dreamworks. Peli's story might remind some of the way that 'The Blair Witch Project'exploited the internet to market itself in a way that hadn't been tried before.
This trend must be inspiring to any would-be film makers, and it sure is exciting for Science Fiction and Horror fans. I think the kind of patronage that Spielberg, Jackson and now Raimi has shown is laudable, and I hope it keeps happening for more low-budget projects.

Fede Alvarez made 'Panic Attack' for a reported 'few hundred dollars' - it sure doesn't look like it!